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DTM Hockenheim
Aiello and Alesi almost on a par during test day
Laurent Aiello and Jean Alesi were separated by only 0.042 seconds on the test day during the season opener of the DTM. At the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, reigning champion Laurent Aiello fuhr der amtierende Meister Laurent Aiello set the fastest lap time of 1.37.511 minutes with his Abt-Audi TT-R, closely followed by his fellow-Frenchman Jean Alesi (Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM). With Manuel Reuter (Opel Astra V8 Coupé) in fourth place, the third DTM-make also was within striking distance. Both in the morning and in the afternoon, ten drivers were within one second.
Fastest driver of the day, Laurent Aiello, was happy with his performance, but warned for too much optimism: “Today, my car was very good, but it is difficult to draw any conclusions”, the champion said. “This afternoon, it was very warm, but the weather is supposed to change tomorrow and then, of course, conditions are much different, too.”
With his lap time of 1.36.834 minutes, Jean Alesi occupied second place and said: “Of course, I am really happy with today’s result. It is nice when you are almost levelled with the champion during the first real comparison of the season. But we don’t know yet how we will cope with the new qualification format tomorrow. This includes some uncertainty – and it surely will be exciting.” Opel-ace Manuel Reuter, fourth in the afternoon with 1.37.395 minutes and best-placed Opel-driver, commented: “For the first few kilometres with my new race car, I really am more than happy.”
dtm.de
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25-04-2003, 21:07
